An airplane act of kindness has gone viral after a grateful Arkansas mom posted to Facebook her experience with a stranger who stepped in to help on a kid-frazzled flight.
Jessica Rudeen was flying alone for the first time with her three-year-old daughter Caroline and four-month-old son Alexander, and the experience was turning into a nightmare as she prepared to board an American Airlines flight from Arkansas to North Carolina, CBS News reported.
In her Facebook post Rudeen explained that she had been unable to feed her Alexander, who was now "screaming his head off," and if that wasn’t enough, Caroline threw a tantrum right after they got on the plane.
Rudeen said her daughter was initially excited about the flight but lost her nerve and began kicking and screaming, demanding to get off the plane.
"I honestly thought we’d get kicked off the plane," Rudeen said, but passenger Todd Walker sitting next to her reached over to hold Alexander while the exasperated mom buckled daughter's seatbelt.
Once Caroline calmed down, Walker distracted the little girl so Rudeen could feed her son.
Walker said seeing Rudeen struggling with her two children reminded him of his wife Stacey, who had a similar experience when their two boys were young and a stranger showed her the same kindness, ABC News reported.
"During the flight, he colored and watched a movie with Caroline, he engaged in conversation and showed her all the things outside," Rudeen said in her Facebook post. "By the end of the flight, he was Caroline’s best friend."
Walker happened to share Rudden’s connecting flight and helped the trio board their flight and even had his seat changed so that he could sit in the same row as them.
"We could have been placed next to anyone, but we were seated next to one of the nicest men I have ever met in my life," Rudeen said.
Rudeen and Walker parted ways before she could get his contact info to thank him properly, so the grateful mom took to social media in hopes of finding him and his wife.
Within hours the post had gone viral and soon the two had reconnected.
Stacy Walker told ABC News that it was in her husband's nature to help people.
"We don't have girls and he really connected with little Caroline," she said. "He's really humbled by it. He can't believe the amount of attention, it's just amazing."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.